A common fishing rod has a prepreg wound around the body of the rod. The prepreg is reinforced fibers extended in a specific direction and impregnated with a synthetic resin. The fishing rod has a tubular structure in order to reduce the weight of the rod. However, a tip of the rod may be made solid to obtain flexibility and to prevent damage thereon when the tip portion of the rod is largely bent by fish bites.
Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. S54-80372 and H9-248103 disclose a solid tip made of a so-called fiber-reinforced resin material formed from a reinforced fiber (a carbon fiber, a glass fiber or the like) impregnated with a synthetic resin. The fiber-reinforced resin material is typically formed by pultrusion and disposed continuously from a proximal end to a distal end of the tip rod.
The above-described prior-art tip is formed from a material in which reinforced fibers are arranged continuously from the proximal end to the distal end (a continuous fiber solid body), therefore elongation of the material is dictated by the material of the selected reinforced fiber. For example, the elongation of the above mentioned carbon fiber and glass fiber is about 1.5% to 2.7% of the original total length, this means that the fiber itself does not stretch so much. Because of a low elongation of such reinforced fibers, a rigidity of the tip is relatively high and has a limited flexibility when the tip is bent. It is preferable that a tip of a rod be flexible enough to sense and see subtle fish bites and have a high strength (especially a bending strength). Some solid tip rods made of the above-described fiber-reinforced resin material require more flexibility depending on target fish types and types of fishing. More flexible tip rod made of the continuous fiber can be obtained by reducing the outer diameter of the tip rod.
A certain degree of the flexibility and strength of the tip rod is required for realize, for example, various types of actions of the tip rod. The degrees of the flexibility and strength and the positions where such flexibility and strength are imparted vary depending on a type of the action. Particularly when a proximal end of the tip rod is connected to a tubular tip-holding pole, a prescribed degree of strength is required at the connecting portion in order to enhance continuity of the action. However, if the tip rod is made too flexible, the strength is likely reduced at the connecting portion. The tip rod should have appropriate flexibility and strength (bending rigidity, torsional rigidity and the like) as described above, the above-mentioned prior art tip rod cannot satisfy this requirement.